


greasy

by sunnysidechen



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cheesy, Denial of Feelings, Fluff, M/M, Pick-Up Lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:46:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25873834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnysidechen/pseuds/sunnysidechen
Summary: golden boy jongdae rejects his admirers from left to right. well, except one. he comes with all the cheesy pick-up lines in the world, and jongdae should really, really reject him, but can't bring himself to do that.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen, Byun Baekhyun/Original Female Character(s), Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Oh Sehun
Comments: 24
Kudos: 88
Collections: Shall we Chen? Fictional Fest First Round





	greasy

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt SWC365: Jongdae gets a lot of attention whenever he goes out but he turns most of his suitors down. One keeps coming back with the most horrible pick up lines and word puns and Jongdae, no matter what he tells to everyone else, feels himself falling for the silly man. 
> 
>   
> hello! i hope everyone enjoys reading this, and do let me know what you think! thank you in advance if you do + thank you so much to the swc mods!

In the small town of Bloomingdale, everyone knows each other, even if you lived on opposite sides of the town. Which also meant that when someone has some big news, good or bad, everyone would know. Some may feel suffocated staying in a town like this or some may enjoy it very much, but for Jongdae, it’s the former.

Dubbed the **Golden Boy** , Jongdae is everyone’s perfect son, and a lot of parents’ dream son-in-law. He is extremely handsome, face perfectly defined in the right areas that you’d question whether it is really natural (it is), but adorable-looking enough that you’d dote on him no matter how old you are. He’s also an amazing singer, many entertainment agencies, even the Big 3, have approached him, but they were all turned down. 

_Remember how Jongdae was part of the first group of people who feels suffocated?_

That is because everywhere he goes in town, everyone would feel the dying need to approach him, say hello and introduce themselves. A lot of them even outright flirts and asks him out, but he again turns them down, he’s not interested. Not only that, he gets the same attention from the neighbouring towns around Bloomingdale too! Which meant that he could never truly have his own time the second he steps out of his house. Jongdae doesn’t see his own appeal, and he definitely does not understand why he gets all this attention. He may have basked in it when he was younger, but now that he’s much older, he disliked it. It didn’t help that his family are well-known too, which meant he has gotten extra attention, if that was even possible.

Jongdae sighs as he sits down with his friends at lunch. He doesn’t think he can ever get used to everyone else just blatantly staring at him, even when he has been experiencing this since he came out of his mother’s womb.

“Someone asked you out today?” Kyungsoo always asks this when he sees his best friend a little exasperated at only 1pm.

“Yeah, like 3 people? I told them no, but one of them insisted that he’d _‘give me a good time’_. I told him to fuck off.” The table chuckled; Jongdae used to be polite with the rejections, but when certain people kept coming back insistently, he threw his morals out of the door.

“Oh God, _he’s_ coming,” Junmyeon whispers to Jongdae as he sits down beside him for lunch. Everyone freezes, anticipating what would happen next. Jongdae would usually ignore _him_ till he does something, but he couldn’t possibly ignore _anything_ when he hears a loud, overexaggerated sneeze from behind that shocked him and everyone else in the dining hall.

The _stranger_ sniffles loudly before going into Jongdae’s line of sight, shamelessly proclaiming to him, “ **_I sneezed because God blessed me with you._ **”

Ah, lo and behold, it's the infamous Greasy. Well, _Disgusting_ Greasy with the way he sneezed just now. 

“Hello,” Greasy smiles, “I have something for you today.”

“I hope it doesn’t have your stupid germs on it with the way the flu is going around,” Kyungsoo comments without looking at Greasy. Jongdae glares at him.

“Here. Don’t worry, sneeze was fake,” Greasy ignored that comment and extended his hand that was holding a piece of sunflower with a card. Jongdae took it anyway, smiling, “Thank you. It’s really pretty.”

“Just like you, _dandelion_. Have a great day, angel,” Greasy winks, before joining his friends at another table. 

“I still do not understand why you still accept gifts from him. You don’t do this for anyone else,” Junmyeon comments.

“Can’t you tell? Dae likes him, obviously. Even with his stupid, cringey pick-up lines.”

“And,” Kyungsoo adds to Minseok’s statement, “Greasy is the only one he hasn’t rejected yet.”

“He hadn’t asked me out yet! Can’t reject someone who only tells you sweet nothings, even if it’s cringey at times. But he has been harmless so far, so it’s fine,” Jongdae defended himself, hoping his friends didn't see the red he felt in his ears. 

“Bullshit.” He hears Kyungsoo say.

“A flower though? That’s new,” Minseok sarcastically says. Truth is, it was Greasy’s 5th flower, but it wasn’t like Jongdae was counting. He realises he was smiling giddily at the flower, and had badly wanted to read the card, but forces himself not to as he puts the flower down.

“Aw man, did I already miss Greasy?” Yixing asks as he walks over to the table a while later.

“Tough luck, he has already shot his shot.”

* * *

Before Greasy was Greasy, Jongdae’s group of friends called him SD, which simply stands for Stranger Danger. SD started off innocently, saying hello, asking him how he is, maybe a cheese pick-up line or two. This was the usual, it wasn’t just SD that was doing this. Jongdae just chuckled and let him be, SD was actually funny and seemed pretty harmless anyway. Unlike the rest though, he hadn’t given his number or asked him out, let alone his name. Hence, the nickname. Around the end of the 1st month is when SD gained the name _Greasy_. Jongdae remembers his very first, cringey pick-up line.

“ **_What pickup line did the flower use on Tinder?_ **” SD appears out of nowhere and ambushes Jongdae on his way to class. He also presents a bouquet of roses with dandelions and a small mirror (?), Jongdae suddenly looking at his own startled face in the reflection.

“ **_Are you a DAMNdelion?_ **” SD says confidently and smiling brightly. It could be cute, if not for how in shock Jongdae was with the other.

“Um… thanks?” He thinks about taking the roses if not for Yixing slowly pulling him away, not before SD stops him again and insists he takes the roses and the mirror, “I got these for you. Happy Valentine’s Day!” SD forces both the items onto the other and runs away in another direction.

“Ew,” was all Yixing said before he pushed a distracted Jongdae into the room and sat him down. Later, an unfocused Jongdae glanced at the bouquet on the seat beside him, slowly realising that this was SD’s first gift for him, and saw that there was a card. Huh.

He reads the card later that day, a simple: 

_Happy Valentine’s Day!_

**_If I gave you eleven roses, what would you see in the mirror?_ **

**_A dozen roses!_ **

_You’re my Damn-Dae-lion (get it? since your name is Jongdae)_ _♡♡_

 _Have a great day_ _♡_

Jongdae chuckles at how cute the card was. Now, the mirror made sense. Sure, SD had some pretty unconventional ways of approaching him, but he kept him on his toes, and Jongdae actually looks forward to his interesting antics as opposed to the basic, boring boring flirting. There was no sign-off whatsoever, so again, no name. But when Kyungsoo managed to snatch the card off of Jongdae’s hands, SD was now _Greasy_. 

He continues seeing Greasy around school, and when he entertains the other’s antics, he only really knows _one_ thing, they were not in the same major or classes. (The rest of the time is used for Greasy to flirt.)

“How does he have so much time to seek you out and flirt with you horribly? Does he even ask you out?” Minseok asking the right questions.

Jongdae shakes his head, “He says one or two things then leaves. I don’t even know his name.”

One day, Kyungsoo comes back with something vital.

“I know his name.”

“Who?” 

“Greasy.” At that, Jongdae’s heart starts to beat really fast. This is it… a name to Greasy’s face, finally. Also, he was starting to dislike calling Greasy, well, Greasy.

“Wh-what is... it?” Jongdae asks as casually as possible. Kyungsoo, his friend of almost a decade, smirks. 

“Well, well, well… Seems like someone’s interested.”

“Of course I’m interested in his name! Greasy is a little mean, don’t you think?”

“No, no. I meant that you might actually like this guy.”

“Whaaat… No…”

Well, Jongdae has eyes and a heart. His eyes did appreciate how good looking Greasy is, and his heart appreciated how charming yet still respectful, even with the worst pick-up lines, Greasy is. The best word to describe him was endearing; Jongdae was (un)fortunately quite fond of him, and would probably not have the heart to reject or turn Greasy down even if he tried.

“Oh… this is _good_.” Jongdae has never seen a smile so big on Kyungsoo’s face before, he knows he should be worried.

“Soo, just tell me his name!” He hits the other.

“Hey! For that, I wouldn’t tell you his name.”

“Soo, please!” Jongdae whines desperately, he doesn't know why he _needed_ Greasy’s name, but he was so, _so close_ to getting it. The rest of the time, unfortunately, Kyungsoo just ignores the other, but just like Greasy, Jongdae would not give up.

  
  


“If you want to know his name so badly, just ask him!” Junmyeon asks the obvious.

“Everytime he gets me a gift, he doesn’t state or say his name. Maybe he wants to keep it a secret?”

“Bullshit, that’s ut- Oh God, why is the huge mascot coming our way…” 

“Oh!” The Corgi mascot shouts and stops in front of Jongdae and bends down. Jongdae would recognise the voice anywhere, and apparently, so does Junmyeon, because he looks away, he always does to avoid ‘tainting his eyes’ at the ‘cheesy nonsense this man puts his best friend through’, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy it.

 _‘Oh my God, it’s a proposal!’_ was heard somewhere.

Corgi-Greasy barks very, very loudly (even in costume), before saying comically, **_“Let me tie your shoes, cause I don't want you falling for anyone else!”_ **Jongdae was too afraid to look down, but he knows his laces are tied really tight, there was no way it was loose. He feels the mascot’s paws on his right shoe, hitting it and not really tying anything as claimed, and soon, Corgi appears in front of his face.

“Woof! There, all good! Have a good day, DamnDaeLion~” Corgi shoots him some finger guns, before walking away, no signature wink this time, for obvious reasons. Jongdae snapped out of his little trance at Junmyeon’s tug. That’s when Jongdae realises two things:

  1. Greasy approached him in the middle of a very crowded field during a school fair.
  2. Everyone was looking at him.



Also, he was unconsciously smiling like an idiot, a fact only Junmyeon had realised, and pointed it out to his friend after, who started denying of course.

And that was the **official** start of Greasy and Jongdae.

* * *

Which brings us back to the Disgusting Greasy incident. Kyungsoo had pointed out a few weeks after that there were less people approaching Jongdae now, and more people were curious about Greasy and his pathetic attempts at wooing the other. The thing is: **Greasy goes all out.** Oh, the sneezing incident wasn’t even the wildest thing he has done. 

Greasy once laid down dramatically walking past Jongdae, which caused the latter to trip over him too. Both on the ground, Jongdae still recovering from shock, Greasy asks, “ **_I hope you know CPR, because you are taking my breath away!"_** Once again, they were in the middle of a crowded school hallway, everyone just looking at them, some snickering, some sighing, some of them didn’t really care. And usually, Jongdae would have one of his friends with him, this time he was alone. Greasy got up and held out a hand to him, which Jongdae subconsciously takes. That was their first physical contact, and Jongdae enjoys how good it felt for a second, before Greasy gasps. He pulls Jongdae to the nurse’s room, Jongdae was fine, but she did give him an ice pack for the growing bruise on his forehead. Greasy couldn’t stop apologising after, admitting he fell purposefully to grab his attention, not thinking that he’d fall too. Jongdae tells him it’s fine, secretly expecting the other to ask him out to make up for it, but when they parted, Greasy just flashes a smile, before winking and walking away. Kyungsoo sighs when he sees his friend, and Junmyeon wants to metaphorically kill Greasy in his sleep.

Jongdae finally had some guts to ask for the other’s name 2 weeks after the Disgusting Greasy incident, when Greasy approaches with a word pun this time.

 **“Let’s spend some koala-ty time together!”** And yes, Greasy gifted him an almost life-sized plushie of a Koala.

“Um… thank you… Wh… what’s your name? I n-never got it.”

“Oh?” Greasy seems pleasantly surprised, “Who's asking, handsome?”

“Um… me?”

“Well,” Greasy stood up straight, “Baekhyun is the name. Byun Baekhyun.” He extends his hand, and Jongdae was in the right mind for once and returns the shake.

Baekhyun gasps dramatically, holding his left hand on top of his heart, **“I’ve been touched by an angel! Am I in heaven?!”**

“Sh… shut up…” Jongdae looks down shyly, blushing as he hears the other chuckle.

“I’ll see you around, gorgeous.” Winking, he walks away again, and Jongdae feels his heart starting to soar a little.

“Well, now we all know you definitely like him,” Kyungsoo says as he stands beside Jongdae, “You’re a simp for him.” How in the hell does Kyungsoo know what ‘simp’ is?

“While I agree,” Minseok stands on the other side, “How are you going to bring this giant koala into the exam hall?”

The dam breaks a little as _Baekhyun_ (yes, finally! no more Greasy!) comes by almost everyday and says hello to Jongdae like they’re friends. 

One day, he shows up with a matchstick and lights it up against the box it came in, **“You light my fire, probably because you’re my perfect match.”** Blowing the fire into Jongdae’s direction, he shoots him with a finger heart, before winking and walking away.

On another day, it seems like Baekhyun was waiting for him outside his class (how did he know his schedule?), and presents him two tulips, one on each hand.

 **“We should put our tulips together.”** He hits the two flowers together and gives it to Jongdae together, before giving his signature wink, “Have a great day, handsome.” Jongdae couldn’t help but swoon on the inside a little, and the colour of his pink shirt he was wearing matches his cheeks the entire day.

Honestly, Jongdae thinks Baekhyun is more forward now that it seems like the former looked much more welcoming and actually engaged with him, than when the latter first began his antics.

_“Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only Ten I See.”_

_“I’m from Bloomingdale.”_

_“You must be exhausted. You've been running through my mind all day.”_

_“I hate running. And exercising.”_

_“On a scale of 1 to 10, you’re a 9. I’m the 1 you need.”_

_“I don’t settle for anything less than an 8.”_

_“Are you religious?”_

_“Yes, I am, I go t-”_

_“Because you’re the answer to all my prayers!”_

_“Hey angel, are you exercise? Because you’re breathtaking.”_

_“That doesn’t even make sense. And again, I do not exercise.”_

_“Are you sure? You seem fit.”_

_“The only thing your eyes haven’t told me is your name.”_

_“You know my name, Baekhyun. You’ve been calling me Jongdae since the very beginning.”_

_“Feel my shirt.”_

_“What?”_

_“Just feel it!” Baekhyun comes closer to Jongdae and holds out his oversized shirt. The latter follows his order anyway, a little confused when the former asks, “What is it made out of?”_

_“I don’t know Baekhyun, cotton?”_

_“Nope!” He bounces, “Boyfriend material!” Jongdae swears he can hear Minseok sigh._

_“This is the police! You’re under arrest for stealing my heart, now put your hands where I can hold them.”_

_“Oh my god, why does he have handcuffs?” Junmyeon freaks out a little._

This went on for about 2 more months, how Baekhyun had so many pick-up lines was starting to worry Jongdae. His friends kept teasing him about the older, but honestly? Jongdae is only keeping him around and entertaining him because he is funny, that's all. No other funny business. (Although he does get increasingly disappointed when Baekhyun doesn’t ask him out but shh, don’t tell anyone that.)

"I've said it months ago. You like him."

"Of course I like him, he's friendly!"

"Friendly… sure, let's go with that," Minseok shrugs.

"He is!"

"He's very flirty," Junmyeon points out.

"And he hasn't asked you out?" Yixing pipes in too.

"No, why would he? He's only doing this for fun." Clearly, since Baekhyun (unfortunately) hasn’t asked him out yet.

"The important question is when _you're_ going to ask him out," Kyungsoo says.

"Why would I ask him out?! Are you c-crazy? I don't like him that way..." Jongdae stutters, ears very visibly turning red.

All his friends snorted, Jongdae's face red as a beet.

"Wh-at are you guys insinuating?"

"You do know you blush every time he gives you one of his horrible lines, and your eyes brighten up whenever you see him approaching?" Minseok explains.

"Also, everyone keeps asking me whether the Golden Boy has finally been snatched up. Everyone thinks you are both already dating," Yixing adds.

"Why would they care whether I'm dating or not?" 

“Like we said, you’re the Golden Boy,” Junmyeon sighs. 

They all settled down in their seats in the auditorium, the school forcing them to go to some enlightenment talk about life. From the corner of his eyes, Jongdae sees Baekhyun approaching him, probably with another pick-up line since he hasn’t done one today, when he widens his eyes.

 _“Oh my God, what is she doing?”_ Someone says, and everyone around them gasps a little, looking between Jongdae and Baekhyun and suddenly, the atmosphere becomes awkward. Jongdae sees Baekhyun accept the flower, ironically a rose, and the girl squealing after. They made eye contact and Jongdae looked away first, forcing down the tears (he doesn’t know why they’re suddenly coming up) and distracting himself with his fingers in front of him. The atmosphere at the area stays solemn, the girl oblivious to what she had just caused.

“Hi, Jongdae.”

He curses internally and looks up, “He-hello.” Baekhyun widened his eyes a little, the rose really weird around his fingers when it’s not meant for Jongdae.

“I…” For once, Baekhyun was speechless, and thankfully, one of his friends, Sehun, came back and took him away, not without saying hi to Junmyeon. 

“Why did he say hi to you?” Jongdae hears Minseok ask.

“I don’t know…” Junmyeon replies back.

“Dae…” Kyungsoo calls for him and rubs his friend’s back.

“Yeah?”

“It’s okay,” Kyungsoo comforts the other, and Jongdae was about to rebut and says that he’s perfectly fine, when the speaker booms. The talk is about to start.

Jongdae doesn’t see Baekhyun for a while after that, but it wasn’t like he cares anyway. Baekhyun wasn’t his boyfriend, he was just throwing his stupid lines for fun, maybe Jongdae wasn’t the only one he does this too. He unconsciously huffs loudly while studying with Yixing, and his friend worries.

“We all are worried about you. Your mood has been off lately…”

“I’m fine, Xing. Just stressed, too many deadlines.”

“Are you sure it’s not a certain Bae-”

“I can’t care enough for that man, okay? I told you, have always told you guys that he only does this for fun. No feelings whatsoever. He probably thinks I’m an easy target and gets off being the only person not rejected yet. Fuck, should’ve just shut him down earlier.” He curses himself for even giving Baekhyun a chance. So what if he thinks Baekhyun is endearing and adorable, yet still wants to do ? He’s a jerk that had only played with Jongdae and his feelings like putty.

_Wait… feelings?_

_What feelings?_

_Jongdae has no feelings for him._

_No, no he does not._

He snaps himself out of it and shakes his head a little.

A bunch of books suddenly dropped on the table in front of them and a small ‘Sorry’ came out from the culprit. Jongdae looked up and laid eyes upon the last person he wanted to see. He quickly looked down on his notes as Baekhyun sat down across from him.

He knows the feeling of when someone is looking at him, and he feels it not only from Yixing and Baekhyun, but also, the other few people studying in the library. Yes, the girl, Jongdae finds out her name is Jisu, went viral, not only within their school, but in the entire Bloomingdale for asking Jongdae’s potential boyfriend out. And the potential boyfriend got some flak on his side too. Thankfully, Jisu was from another town and didn’t suffer the brunt of it, but Baekhyun… well…

“Do you want to get out of here…?” Yixing quietly asks, to which Jongdae shakes his head. He’s here to study anyway, distraction (read: Baekhyun) be damned. He looks around a while after and sees the library relatively empty, so why did he choose to see here of all places? He hadn’t realised he was glaring staring at Baekhyun until they made eye contact. The other tears off a piece of paper and scribbles something, before folding it and placing it where Jongdae can grab it. Oh, he did alright, making sure to keep the eye contact as he crumples the paper in his hand and throws it back at the other. Call him Petty, it’s his middle name.

Baekhyun pouts, before tearing another piece of paper, scribbling and passing it to the other unfolded. Yes, Jongdae was tempted to read its contents, but he just crumples it again and throws it back. Baekhyun seemed to give up after, and Yixing tried to ignore them both but the tension was at an all-time high, and he wanted to leave.

“Yeah, let’s go have some food,” Jongdae agrees, and as they start to pack up, Baekhyun does too. Feeling like he’s fighting against time, Jongdae packs a little faster, running out the library (lowkey leaving Yixing behind), hoping the other wouldn’t catch up to him. Yixing soon appears after, panting, “Hey!”

“Sorry.” Jongdae glances behind, huh, Baekhyun didn’t follow them, that’s great (is it?).

“Here.” Yixing passes something, more like 3 pieces of paper, 2 of it crumpled, “He looked desperate, and I felt bad.”

“I don’t want it, just throw it away.” He tries to pass the papers back, but Yixing pushes them away, “I’m sure you’d want to read them later.”

“You read these?” He asks defensively.

“Relax, I didn’t. Just… keep it. Do whatever you want with it.”

“Jongdae?”

“Yes, Seulhee-noona?” He turns to one of the maids there, holding his pants.

“I found these papers in your pocket before I washed it, do you want me to throw it away?”

“Oh.” He was hoping the maids would have just washed it accidentally so he wouldn’t think about it, but the papers were right there in her hand. “I’ll just… have it.” He took it from her and thanked her, staring at the paper in his hands. He curses himself for being so weak as he opens the first one: **_Hi, how was heaven when you left it?_ **

He chuckled, but shook himself out of it, _‘It wasn’t that funny, Jongdae.’_

The second one reads: **_I’m sorry, were you talking to me? No? Well then, please start._ **

He smiles at that one subconsciously, and opens the last one: **_I'm toadly sorry. Please frog-ive me._ **

He sighs, in hindsight, Baekhyun has nothing to apologise for. They were never together anyway, so it wasn’t like he cheated on him. 

_So why does he feel sad about it?_

The next day comes and Jongdae sighs as he walks along the hallway.

“Why is everyone staring at me again?” Jongdae asks as soon as he joins his friends in the lecture hall. The staring stopped when Baekhyun upped his game, and they only stared when he tried something. Now that it’s back, Jongdae does not welcome it.

“Have you not seen S- Wait, you don’t have any,” Minseok pulls up his phone and pulls up a picture. It’s a selca of Baekhyun and Jisu. Fuck. 

“Oh. Good for him.” With a tight-lipped smile, he tries his best not to shake when he sits down, trying to look as unbothered as possible. “What? Are you guys not sitting down?” 

“Did you not read the caption?”

“What’s a caption? On the photo? Listen, I don’t care. Just sit your asses down, I have a headache looking up at you guys.”

(He goes home later that day to tear the pieces of paper he had pinned up to his board.)

Life went back to the norm after that. More people have come up to Jongdae and tried to take advantage of his ‘break-up’, and all Jongdae had to say was, “No, I’m not going out with anyone. Fuck having a relationship.”

“Dae, are you okay? It’s like… your 5th sigh since you sat down 5 minutes ago,” Yixing worries.

“I’m fine,” he gritted. Honestly, he just wanted to go home and watch cute, happy webtoons for the rest of his life. Not that there was anything wrong with him, or the fact that it’s been 3 weeks since he had any sort of interaction with Baekhyun, only to find out he already has a girlfriend. Nope. Jongdae’s fine, he is all good.

“Jongdae.” 

He couldn’t catch a break even if he tried.

“Baekhyun.” Jongdae doesn’t even look up.

“Um… **_I know you're busy today, but can you add me to your to-do list?_ **” Baekhyun tries, finally a little embarrassed over his puns.

He scoffs, “Don’t you have a girlfriend?” 

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Baekhyun pales, and walked away almost immediately. _Huh, he didn’t even deny it, must be true then._ Jongdae shuts his eyes hard, wanting the class that hasn’t even started to end already, and groaned. He curses at his breaking heart and at the heart-breaker.

“This is Sehun,” Junmyeon smiles widely, “We’ve been dating for 3 months.” 

“Nice, congrats,” Minseok starts, the other two also congratulating them.

“You’re Baekhyun’s friend, aren’t you?” Jongdae asks as politely as he could. Baekhyun has his own little friend group - him, Sehun, the tall one - Chanyeol, and the dancer - Jongin. Not like he did any research or anything.

“Yep. I hope this doesn’t affect an-”

“Why should it? I’m just asking. No worries, congrats, Myeon.” Jongdae smiles, before Kyungsoo comes in with his own news.

“I’m dating Chanyeol.” Strangely enough, only Jongdae was shocked, all his friends were not even a little surprised. “I mean, since we’re all… just…” He glanced at Jongdae, “They know already… I hadn’t told you because of Bae-”

“Got it, Soo. Thanks,” Jongdae feels his already broken heart shatter again and pressed his lips together, standing up, “Text me when you’re all done boning everyone from his group.”

Jongdae skips classes for the rest of the week, not wanting to see his friends, not wanting to even think. He doesn’t even know them dating bothered him so much, but he guesses that them dating Baekhyun’s friends was his problem. It shouldn’t be, he knows that, but he couldn’t help feeling that way. And also, maybe since he tells everything to Kyungsoo, he thought the younger would do the same. Oh well, whatever, he’ll get over it. For now, he’s just going t-

“Jongdae?” Seulhee knocks gently on the door.

“Yes?” 

“Kyungsoo-ssi is here to see you.”

“Tell him to go away, I don’t want to see him. Call security if you have to.”

“Oh… okay…”

“Nope!” He hears Kyungsoo shout before he bursts open the door and slamming it behind him. 

“NOONA! CALL SECURITY NOW.”

“You know she’s not going to. Just look at the phone, Jongdae.”

“No. You do know you’re trespas-”

“Your parents saw me and said hi, I’m hardly ‘trespassing’. Dae, stop being so immature and see it from our point of view! You were very upset about Baekhyun and Jisu and Chanyeol had only asked me out. What the hell was I supposed to do? Tell you?”

“Yes, Soo! We’re best friends. I understand that Junmyeon wanted to see how his relationship played out with Sehun, and I would’ve understood with you too, if not for everyone else knowing and you leaving me out. Do you know how embarrassed I feel? I thought we were best friends, Soo. I feel like you don’t trust me enough.”

“Chanyeol and I were only talking casually, that’s why I know what Baekhyun’s name was. I didn’t think he was interested in me until he asked me in the middle of us eating whether it was a date. I said yes, but felt bad after Jisu posted that picture with him. Chanyeol apparently posted an Instagram story with me on it, and the hyungs saw it, so that was why they knew. Dae, I’m really so sorry.”

“I don’t care who you date, Soo. Even if it makes me feel weird, I’m happy you’re happy. Just felt like you were purposefully keeping something from me that everyone else knew.”

Kyungsoo does what he would never, ever do: opening his arms for Jongdae to fall into. They hugged it out, and comforted each other, Jongdae telling the other once again that he is happy for his friend.

“I want you to be happy too.”

“And I will be, okay? Don’t worry about me,” Jongdae shrugs, “Maybe I should start saying yes to people from now on, huh?” He halfheartedly chuckles; there was only one person he’d say yes to and Jongdae was a little too late.

Well, contrary to what he told Kyungsoo, he continues turning people down. 

“I don’t need to be in a relationship for the sake of it. But can you guys stagger your dates so I don’t have to look for other friends?”

“You can always hang out with me and Se-”

“I’d rather not third-wheel, thanks.”

“Hey everyone,” Kyungsoo comes to the table with Chanyeol at his tail. “Yeollie, meet everyone. Everyone meet Chanyeol, my boyfriend.” A chorus of “hi” and “hello”s sounded and Chanyeol greeted them back. “What were we talking about?”

“Jongdae wants us all to stagger our dates so he doesn’t have to be lonely.”

“Oh? Don’t you have a girlfriend?” 

“What?!” Everyone else at the table was shocked at what came out of Chanyeol’s mouth, especially Jongdae himself.

“Um… do you not have a girlfriend…?”

“Chanyeol. I’m gay.”

“Oh. But Baekhyun said you h-“

“Yeol, he’s single. I told you this,” Kyungsoo sighs.

“No, you didn’t!” Chanyeol pouts, “I would’ve remembered and not pushed Baekhyun to move on from you…”

“YOU WHAT?!” Jongdae screamed loudly, standing up and accidentally catching everyone’s attention. When he notices everyone looking at him, he sits back down.

“I… He told me that he thinks that maybe you had a girlfriend or that you’re not interested in men, that’s why you hadn’t… responded favorably to his attempts.”

“What? I do respond _favorably_ to his pick-up lines. He’s the only one I hadn’t shot down yet!”

“Oh… I see.”

“I told you he likes Baekhyun,” Yixing whispers.

“Fine yes! I do like him, okay?! Happy?” Jongdae huffs, face red as he shoves a mouthful of rice into his mouth.

“Wait, Yeol, what do you mean you told him to move on?” His boyfriend asks.

“We kept telling him how pathetic he’s trying to woo you for months, and to just move on because Jongdae-ssi wasn’t interested… so that was why he had said yes to going on a date with Jisu.”

Jongdae groans at that, realising he should’ve made the first move. 

“Hey, in his defense, you rejected him to go on a date,” Chanyeol tries to stand up for his friend.

“He never, _ever_ asked me on a date. He only gave me my gifts and said his lines, then walked away.”

“Oh. He told us he asked you ou-“

“He didn’t. Not to my knowledge anyway.”

“Just face it,” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, “You two are stupid enough to get so caught up with the back and forth, the stupid lines and the flowers, so really, it’s both your faults that you’re both miserable.”

“What he said,” Minseok agreed, “Also, you kept denying your feelings for him and looked at what that got you. This is why Kim Jongdae, you should always be truthful to yourself.”

Jongdae slumped, his friends were right. He was so convinced he hadn’t had any feelings for the other that he let Baekhyun slip through his fingers and realised it too late. He should’ve also thrown his pride out the window and asked him out, that would’ve saved them so much trouble. 

“If it helps…” Chanyeol speaks up a while after, “Baekhyun thinks he and Jisu aren’t really working out. They’re only on their 3rd date and he wants to end it off before it goes in too deep.”

At that, Yixing asks, “So, Dae, what are you going to do?”

* * *

Baekhyun groans. Jisu kept insisting on a third date, but he didn’t want to do it. Fuck, why did Jongdae have to be an unavailable het-

“Baek? You should see this,” Chanyeol runs up to him and pulls him into the opposite direction.

“What?! Yeol, I’m already late for class.”

“It wouldn’t even matter after you see this.” Chanyeol pushed him towards a… soda vending machine? In the middle of the school entrance?

As Baekhyun walks closer, he sees a little note: _Press me!_ Baekhyun pressed the only button that lit up, and out came a can of Coke.

On it, there was another note: **_Your name must be Coca Cola, because you're so-da-licious._ **

Someone suddenly came up to him and passed him a pair of... socks? What is going on?

He feels a piece of paper inside one side and removes it. **_‘We're not socks. But I think we'd make a great pair.’_ **

He felt another paper in the other sock, and removed it: **_Do your legs hurt from running through my dreams all night?_ ** _(I suggest going to the Nurses’ office to get them checked.)_

Walking there, he started to speculate who could be doing this and what was going on, or whether it was a sick prank by some stranger. Although he couldn't help but think it's from a certain... - Wait, what if it is Jisu? _Fuck_.

The nurse handed him an ice pack, with another piece of note: **_I was feeling a little off today, but you’ve turned me on again!_ **

He looks at the nurse confusedly, and she only passes another piece of paper.

 **_Are you a PARKING ticket? ‘Cause you’ve got fine written all over you._ ** _(I wonder where I can find a parking ticket like you.)_

Baekhyun assumes that since ‘parking’ was capitalised, and the last sentence was only a little useful, he had to go to the parking lot. He thanks the nurse, who wished him ‘good luck’ (what for?) and he walks out of the office. He walks onto the lot, wait, was he supposed to look for a specific car or…?

“Hey,” someone, a professor(?), nudges Baekhyun, “I think there’s something for you on my car, wanna go check it out?”

“Um…” Baekhyun wasn’t sure about what he had to do, but finds himself following behind this professor anyway. True enough, there was a note stuck to the windshield addressed to him, which made this entire encounter even weirder considering he has never seen this man in his life, but opens the note anyway: **_You don’t need keys to drive me crazy._ **

Baekhyun looks over at the older man, who just smiles a little too creepily for his comfort, and the next thing he knows, the speaker booms loudly through the school.

_“Will Byun Baekhyun please proceed to the field?”_

“That’s you, good luck.” The professor(?) pats the younger one on the back and gets into the car. Baekhyun takes a deep breath, making his way to the field a little further away, and the moment it was in his line of sight, he sees a huge crowd, all looking at him so intently. Immediately he feels insecure, but maybe, he thinks, that they were looking at someone else. He looked behind him, _huh_ , there was no one, so they were _definitely_ looking at him. He looks around, suddenly feeling so small as he continues walking towards the field, but stops dead in his tracks once he sees _it_. There were balloons everywhere, and even a red carpet laid out. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see very well who was on the other side of the carpet.

A tune suddenly starts out of nowhere and Baekhyun quickly recognised it as one of the popular OSTs these days.

_Oh every time I see you_

No way.

_When I see your eyes_

_My heart keeps fluttering_

Everyone would’ve known who this voice belonged to. 

_You’re my destiny_

_The only person I want to protect_

_Until the end of the world_

_When you look at me_

Sehun and Jongin suddenly come up from the sides to push their very unmoving Baekhyun towards the front, where the singer stood. 

_When you look at me and smile_

_It feels like my heart will stop_

_How about you?_

_It’s really hard for me to handle_

_All day, I think of you_

Baekhyun can clearly see who the singer is now, not like he didn’t know who it was in the first place. He always thinks Jongdae is most beautiful when he sings, and he is still standing by his statement.

_We went in circles for a long time_

_But even if it’s now, I’m alright_

_Oh every time I see you_

_When I see your eyes_

_My heart keeps fluttering_

Baekhyun feels his heart beating out his chest too, and it feels like his legs are giving out on him. He tries to stand upright as Jongdae continues singing to him.

_You’re my destiny_

_The only person I want to protect_

_Until the end of the world_

_Don’t leave me_

_Even if we can’t see our futures_

_Will you believe in me and wait for me?_

Well, technically, he did wait for the other a long time, and he tries hard to calm himself down; he doesn’t want to shake and cry in front of so many people. (He will do so later.)

_My one and only_

_Have I ever told you_

_That you are my everything?_

He couldn’t believe it’s finally happening.

_You’re my destiny I want to protect you_

_Until the end of the world_

Jongdae finally steps forward towards the other and holds out a bouquet of roses, “ _ **I was just showing these flowers how beautiful you are.**_ ”

“I… um…” Baekhyun tries really hard to think of a pick-up line on top of his head (he memorised a lot for goodness sake!), but came up empty.

“ ** _I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty good with numbers. Tell you what, give me yours and watch what I can do with it._** ”

“You’re an accounting major, though?” Baekhyun asks without thinking, and shuts his mouth at that. It was just another pick-up line.

Jongdae pulls out a small box of raisins, “ ** _Do you like raisins?_** ”

Baekhyun replies, “Um, not really…” He feels a little guilty, in case Jongdae needed a yes as an answer t-

“ ** _Well, how do you feel about a date?_** ” At this, he pulls out a handful of dates from his pocket, and Baekhyun was about to say he doesn’t really know how dates tasted like until it hits him.

“You’re asking _me_ on a date?”

“ ** _Roses are red. Violets are blue. It would be a shame if I couldn’t date you._** ” God, now he knows how Jongdae feels when he says lines like this… a little embarrassed. 

“Um…”

“JUST SAY YES!!!” Someone shouts from the big crowd, and their jaws dropped to see who it is.

“God, how long more are you both going to go at it? It’s honestly getting kinda annoying that I have to do all the work.”

“Jisu… I…”

“Just say yes, Baekhyun. The only reason why I asked you on dates was to make him,” Jisu points to Jongdae, “jealous, so he would finally do something about it. Now it’s your chance!”

“ _What?_ ” The two men just look at her in disbelief, and Baekhyun is lowkey offended that Jisu wasn’t genuinely interested in him but other circumstances are more important now.

“Just say yes! We know you want to.”

Baekhyun turns towards Jongdae again, and smiles widely, “Yes, I’ll go on a date with you.”

Chanyeol cheers loudly first, before everyone else joins in, including Jisu.

Nothing else matters to both Baekhyun and Jongdae though, for the stars finally align for them, and today is a start to a brand new beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> song: everytime by chen and punch !! <3
> 
> come talk to me on [twt](https://twitter.com/sunnysidechen) or leave me [questions](https://curiouscat.me/sunnysidechen)!


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